Compartment 14B

Important as global warming is, and as near and dear to my heart as the future of our planet is, Iím not entirely comfortable having the last entry stay as the most recent one, and thus potentially be the one that will give someone their first impression of me. So, let the pregnancy navel-gazing resume!

If my guess as to ovulation is correct, Iím 6 weeks today and later today Iím having an ultrasound. Iím a bit nervous since I donít, as mentioned, really experience much in the way of early pregnancy symptoms, and since last time development had clearly stopped some time before I actually miscarried. According to varioussites, today I should be able to see the ďfetal poleĒ (which sounds kind of silly to me Ė why donít they just say ďfetusĒ or, since technically itís not a fetus until 8 or 9 weeks, ďembryoĒ?). As eager as I am to lay eyes on proof that the little squirt is there, Iím still kind of wistful that itís not a few days later when Iíll have a much better chance of seeing a heartbeat. At 6 weeks itís still iffy, but at 6.5 weeks odds are pretty good. Well, maybe Iíll get lucky. Maybe my numbers are off by a day or two.

One thing I am a bit ambivalent about, this will be a trans-abdominal ultrasound. On the one hand, yay! No cooter-cam! On the other, boo! I have to drink all kinds of water and have a full bladder, plus nowhere have I found it recommended to do trans-abdominal at this early stage, when the resolution is apparently better with the other, more invasive method. I have to admit though, I may question the details of their methods and diagnoses, but the fertility clinic here has provided me with one baby and three pregnancies so far. This one I think maybe I should split credit for: even though it was a non-Clomid round, I canít be sure that there wasnít any after-effects of the previous round lingering in my system. Plus, without the clinic having confirmed a follicle and its timing, I canít really guarantee I would have been as diligent with my efforts during the critical week.

So stay tuned, my next entry will either be full of excited-ness or devastation, depending on how the ultrasound goes today. I should also be getting my blood-test results back from my family doctor today (did I mention she had the lab take four vials of blood from me last Friday?). She didnít do an hCG beta, which would have been the one that Iíd like to have the most, but itíd be good to get confirmation that allís well on the other stuff too. I mean, if I was immune to rubella last time, I canít imagine I wonít be this time, but Iím sure Iíll find the CBC stuff at least mildly interesting, science geek that I am.